Looking for something simpler to introduce in your course. Twitter is pretty basic and simple to get your head around and begin using fairly quickly. So learn all about it here.

What is Twitter:

Check out Twitter 101
Mashable Twitter Guidebook

The World According to Twitter by David Pogue

What are you doing?

140 characters limit - based on SMS text message limit of cell phones

• I'm eating a PB&J (Not to exciting)
• Just found a great article on IFRS (More exciting)

Want to send a 30 second video, try a BubbleTweet check out mine by clicking to see my bubbletweet

Some Terminology:

Followers - Users who receive your tweets. When a user follows you, you can elect to receive an email so that you can follow them back (if you want to, there are more and more spam twitter accounts these days). You can also use an automated application that will follow any users that follow you, one of these is SocialToo. To find people to follow you can use Twitter's Find People link, and search for people you know, or you can use a tool such as WeFollow. Here are some screen shots from WeFolow to get a sense of how it works:


Following - Users whose tweets you receive.
Tweet - an individual message
@reply - Replying to a message from a user, use @username. This is referred to as a mention, you will get your mentions directly in your twitter stream if you follow the user who mentioned you or in your @username folder for all your mentions (including from users you don't follow)
DM Direct Message - Private tweets
RT Retweet - repost a message that has already been 'tweeted' giving attribution via the @username to indicate from who you received the message from.

Searching with Twitter:

Here we can see how you can create a search of the twitter stream, in this case for the mention of XBRL and embed the results in your wiki, blog or web page.

Multiple modes of using Twitter:

From the Web:

This is pretty much easy, just type away at your twitter page.
Advantages:

• Easy to Use
• No Downloads/Updates
• Only review tweets when you want

Cons:

• See tweets in a stream (who you follow) all mixed together
• You can Miss tweets
• May not have all functionality (e.g. RTs)

Here are some examples of web based applications:

1. Seesmic - Same as desktop but on the web, now that's a nice feature and since its in the cloud you don't have to worry about syncing issues.
2. Tunein, is an application that specializes in grouping media from your twitter stream. You view all the meida - articles, video and pictures in one column or in a seperate view see each media type in its own seperate column. This is great to quicly scan through your stream to see what important media is being mentioned and linked to by the users you follow.
3. Mishnet, This is an application that turns your account into a fis, yes a fish, with other accounts also represented as fish. It's cute.
4. HootSuite, allows you to monitor multiple accounts. This is nice if you have a personal account as well as one you maintain for your course (or multiple accounts for each course you teach). It allows you to group users into columns, create searches that are maintained in columns, and allows for the management of multiple users per account. So you can have your log in/password for a class and your TA's can have their own.

With your Cell Phone:

You can receive tweets from all the users you follow on your cell phone, tweets count as text messages so make sure your plan can handle all the tweets you'll be getting, or from selected users. In this way you can get information from those users that are important enought that you don't want to miss anything they have to say.



Steps:

1. Send the provided code to 40404 via your phone (text message)
2. Once you receive a message back you are ready to go
3. Choose what you want to go to your phone: tweets from users you specify or direct messages
4. Go to your Following list and choose the users you follow that you wish to receive their tweets on your phone.
5. You can also do this when following a user initially just click the Devices On check box when you follow someone.

There are quite a few cell phone applications, a great place to start looking is the twitter apps wiki

From your Desktop:

These are more for power-users, businesses and will help in the education setting. It requires a download and installation of a separate program but has many advantages:

1. Ability to group the users you follow into groups and to view each groups stream of tweets separately within the same application
2. Ability to notify you when a tweet comes in (this can also be a disadvantage due to the distraction it can cause).
3. Most allow you to create streams for searches that you preform (e.g. XBRL or IFRS or CTLA).
4. Most allow you to follow, unfollow, block, @reply, RT, send pictures, etc. all within the application.
5. Some allow you to monitor multiple twitter accounts from within the same application
6. Some allow you to send out tweets at predetermined times.

Here are some examples of desktop applications:

1. TweetDeck, is your personal browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now, connecting you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook and more. This also has an iPhone application, and it sync's your settings between computers and the iPhone.
2. Seesmic, similar to Tweetdeck
3. Spreadtweet, a twitter client disguised as a spreadsheet.

While in Second Life:

So you can stay connected with the twitter world while in Second Life. I use an application called TwitterBox.

Classroom Uses for Twitter:

Twitter as a communication tool

To stay in touch with your students, similar but more instantaneous then e-mail (assuming your students get your tweets on their cell phones). For example,




You can use it to stay in touch with accounting organizations, cpa firms, etc. Here's just some of the state societies that are using twitter:

Twitter for assignments:

1. Sign up for a twitter account at http://twitter.com
2. Have your students sign up for their own account AND follow your account
3. Follow your students account: manually or automatically using a tool such as http://socialtoo.com
4. Post questions for students to respond to. Remember questions and answers must be within 140 character limit including any #hashtag you require in the answer.
5. Questions can be posted manually or use a multiple account tool such as http://hootsuite.com to pre-populate your questions and have them sent out at pre-determined times.
6. Give your students a time period in which they must reply
7. Search for student responses by:
   1. Retrieving your tweet stream (small class)
   2. Searching for #Hastag (large class)

Twitter as ScreenCast recording and distribution

Screenr: Make a video of your computer screen, up to 5 minutes long, and post it on Twitter. So if you need to send students a quick video this is a great tool.

Twitter as a clicker input device in class:

1. Poll Everywhere